Editor-in-Chief’s Note
| Date | 01 January 2016 |
| Author | Gulshan Sachdeva |
| Published date | 01 January 2016 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0020881717727882 |
| Subject Matter | Editorial |
Editor-in-Chief’s Note
It is becoming clear that development cooperation has become a significant aspect
of Indian foreign policy discourse and strategic thinking in recent years. Although
India has been active in this area for decades, the scale and geographical coverage has
expanded significantly in the last ten years. India started its aid activities immediately
after independence in the form of loans and technical assistance programmes to
neighbouring countries. Later, many of these activities were extended to a number
of developing countries within the framework of Non-Aligned Movement (NAM)
and South–South Cooperation (SSC). As a result of its own development experience,
these activities were more focused on capacity building and technical cooperation.
Current Indian development activities abroad could be broadly classified into three
major heads. These include Lines of Credit (LOCs); capacity building particularly
Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) programme and bilateral
grant assistance projects. The institutional mechanism to implement development
activities abroad is still evolving. With the establishment of the Development
Partnership Administration (DPA) within the Ministry of External Affairs, coordi-
nation of these activities has improved significantly. In recent years, effort has
also been made to establish triangular cooperation (TrC), bilaterally as well as
multilaterally. Under TrC, India is in the process of implementing joint projects
in its neighb ourhood and i n Africa. This is being done in collaboration with the
United States, the European Union and the United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP).
There is a growing interest in academic and policy circles to understand growing
Indian cooperation activities abroad. This special issue of International Studies is
a modest attempt to fill this gap. We are thankful to the Research and Information
System for Developing Countries (RIS) and the Forum for Indian Development
Cooperation (FIDC) for their collaboration in bringing out this special issue.
Gulshan Sachdeva
Editor-in-Chief
Editorial
International Studies
53(1) 1–1
2017 Jawaharlal Nehru University
SAGE Publications
sagepub.in/home.nav
DOI: 10.1177/0020881717727882
http://isq.sagepub.com
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